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Got myself a filter from a friend just in the nick of time and was able to get everything installed with a but of clearancing with an angle grinder on the bumper mount. Everything bolted up great and I didn't even need to cut the 90 degree bend tube at all. I used some spare Subaru fender trim rubber to mount in the passthrough hole to keep the intake from rubbing on the metal. Super simple.
Haven't checked to see if I need to rescale the MAF to optimize.. but I did end up heading to a 4 day event and driving the car there (200 miles) and back. More on that shortly.
But yeah, it's an intake.
Would like to cut some holes in the bumper to promote air flow to it, but at the same time also really don't care about trying to add power. I noticed intake temperatures seemed to be about exactly the same as the factory box and the Racing Beat box, which makes sense. The temp sensor is probably getting heated up more by the radiator than the actual air being taken in anyways.
Gridlife Midwest - Gingerman Raceway - October 1-4, 2020
Boy howdy, how do I even start this one. It was wet, cold and more wet and 4 days of racing had never been so fun.
Thursday:
Loaded the car up with all my camping gear, gasoline, tools, oil, and everything needed to be able to keep a car alive for 4 days at the racetrack. Fitting stuff in the car with the rollbar was kind of pain, but being used to my Impreza I just assume spoiled me in that regard. Drove 50 miles west to meet up with a friend where we caravanned together for the rest of the 150 mile journey out to South Haven, MI. When we got to the track our friends had already saved us some spots and the track was VERY wet and puddled over. Because Thursday was just the "get all your **** here" day, they were just doing an open track with a max of like 6-8 cars on track. All of my stuff was still in the car and we really were trying to wait for the rain to stop to setup shop.. but my buddy convinced me it was time to throw all the stuff in the car under a tarp and get out for some soaking wet laps. I was able to convince myself he was right.
So I had never driven a RWD car in the rain on track before, and quite frankly barely know the rain line at Gingerman. I've driven quite a bit in the rain with the Impreza around the course, but obviously the RX-8 was a much different car. Temperatures in the mid 40s and RE71Rs also didn't inspire much confidence, but hey... no better time to learn but the present!
I hopped on track for a handful of laps, and learned VERY quickly I couldn't drive this car in the rain like the Subaru. It was WAY more responsive and obviously wanted to kick the *** end out with every chance it could. I know the car has pretty low power, but in low mu that obviously doesn't matter. Gaining more confidence in the wet I was really able to learn a lot even in just the 5-6 laps I took, and this was good because this was basically how the rest of the weekend was going to be, 40s and WET.
And hey, my friend got a sweet shot of me going into drift mode after the track dried out a bit
After pulling into the paddock I was satisfied with the car. After all, I had driven it 200 miles all loaded up too..which was something I was inherently nervous about. Then we were greeted with a wonderful double rainbow and I knew the weekend was off to an awesome start.
Friday:
Friday was our go fast day. It left us with the driest weather we could get, cool temperatures stacked heavy with sessions for my run group. The car performed beautifully for still not being properly setup and just out of the box. Everyone and their brother wanted a ride in the car, and I was only able to get one session in the mostly dry by myself to try to go fast. The brakes were magical... I could brake probably at half the distance to the corner as in my Impreza, and the turn in speed and grip is something all of my Subaru buddies couldn't get over. Some of my friends were in the same run sessions as me, and we traded off lead/follow just to see where the cars were faster and slower. I am obviously down on power from a 400hp Impreza so the straights were a no brainer, but boy was I quicker by a long shot through the high speed esses and in every braking zone. Corner exit speeds were lacking, and I was still trying to figure out how to drive this lower powered RWD grip monster.
I managed some pretty consistent high 1:40s, with a best time of (twice over?? Yeah... maybe not Harry's...) 1:48.07. Only 2.5 seconds off my Impreza's time to which I was extremely pleased with. The car has way more speed in it as it sits now, and if I can get some better suspension adjustments (and some sway bars) dialed in I am confident I can bring this thing damn near the 1:40s, driver mod depending
Saturday: This day was heavy on the GLTC and Time Attack (Yes, i couldn't get myself a time attack slot.. hurray confusing selection processes and COVID) so I didn't have many sessions. We did have some moist track time which was nice compared to the soaking wet we had on Friday morning. Just another day of racing, adding gas and adding oil.
On that oil note, the car took just over quart of oil the entire weekend, including the 400 miles round trip. Definitely glad I group two quarts with me.. noted for the future.
Took the car out for some more fun laps, and just kept sending it.
My gauge cluster gauges worked flawlessly, and the car stayed nice and cool.. I think I only ever saw about 109*C max on the oil temp, and 90*C max on the water temp. I think my cooling modifications helped.. but I think the cool ambient temp helped more. I also was running into a few issues where I was running out of RPM in 3rd just BARELY to make it to the braking points in some parts of the track. It definitely wasn't beneficial to short shift into 4th, and even trying to do so mid corner caused me to money shift from 3rd to 2nd a few times. Good thing the rotary engines just likes to go BRRRRR. I think the solution I am going to do is to just raise the rev limit by 500 RPM. This should solve the issue of hitting the limiter before braking... it's that close, and will only get closer if pace is increased. This was also an issue I found with my Impreza as well in the same spots on track, though I never actually hit the limiter before I needed to brake.
I was also still having some issues getting the car into 4th gear even after I had replaced the clutch master after the last event. This caused for slow shifts to get the car into gear, and definitely some wasted time. I attribute this to whatever trash clutch the previous owner put in. The throwout is making noise and I think I will put some attention towards that this fall/winter.
Saturday night we threw some folding chairs into the bed of my friend's truck and watching time attack cars, drift cars, and GLTC cars fly around a dark track. And obviously a day like this wouldn't be complete without a few too many drinks and cooking ribs on the fire!
Sunday: Sunday is always the "how many sessions should I run before I pack up and leave" day. It had rained all Saturday night and we were the first session out to clear up the track. Rain was still coming down at a good rate and didn't show any signs of stopping for the day, so we got up and I decided to run the one session before packing up.
My friends hopped into my buddies Bugeye and we gridded up. I forgot to put my gloves on and quite frankly was a bit winded from the night before... but it was us and I think two other cars on grid, so we basically had the track to ourselves. My coworker who was at the event popped in the car and off we went.
Obviously I wasn't able to keep up with the Subaru, but that didn't stop us from having a ton of fun. I didn't bother to even up on my lap timer, and it was just a battle between two buddies.
After that whole situation we started to tear down camp, clean up shop, and throw the easy up back into the easy-up grave from where it came from and I headed back home 200 miles.
It's been a week and I am still recouping sleep, and the race track hangover was hard at work on Monday.
Every time I drive this car, I fall in love just a little bit more.
Wow cute sleepover date! Track culture all the way, yaaaas! It's almost like a FB post and for someone so clever I'm surprised there isn't any social distancing present. I'm disappointed
Great write up! I'm surprised you didn't have issues with water getting into the filter with that setup. I had to do some mods to stop that on mine.
Everything was pretty covered up with the bumper on. I did also make sure to cover up the hood with a tarp after the track was cold and it was left there to sit and soak up, so I am sure that helped. I wouldn't expect much water ingress since it's in the OEM location and I do still have all the ducting in place... but it's definitely in the back of my head.
Originally Posted by Federighi
Wow cute sleepover date! Track culture all the way, yaaaas! It's almost like a FB post and for someone so clever I'm surprised there isn't any social distancing present. I'm disappointed
Ooof, looks like the SCCA is leaking. My apologies, I forgot racing cars with your buddies is supposed to be SERIOUS business. I will leave all of my emotions off to the side from here on out, and then I'm sure you'll just sound like all my ex girlfriends instead of whatever it is you sounds like now
I don't really feel the need to get into the Covid part of this comment as it's not relevant.
Heyo, I bought my first house, complete with 3 garages... winter car project ability increase by 100! No I promise there is a house there somewhere. Pole barn shots...
Mini for scale, RX-8 for relevance.
It's about 45 miles closer to work which should save me a bunch of hours and dollars every week... and motivation to work on cars has never been higher.
Time to move the rest of my stuff now and get to winter buildin'.
Winter 2021, THIS TIME FOR REAL THIS TIME. Probably.
Whelp, finally got some house stuff done and took no time at all filling up the garage with cars.. Got the Mazda to it's temporary resting point for the winter complete with 4 jack stands, a large white board for planning documentation, and 13k Lumen LED lighting (still need to finish up some of the lights)
Next step is to drop the transmission and just inspect the clutch to see what was causing really bad shifting feel and also sort out a better shifter. I've got a lot of other little things on my list to tackle as the winter continues.... and after I insulate the garage more.
Nothing even remotely new and exciting here, just documenting. Did some math, 21mm seemed a bit small for a hollow bar, but definitely would give me what I wanted. The adjustability will be nice to play with as well if I need more or less bar depending on how terrible I am at driving that day. Also added the starndard poly bushings and a liberal application of grease just to get everything sticky and still have it squeak!
First bit of work done in my new place though, figured I'd make it an easy one.
I am a little concerned about preload.. the endlinks are tiny but still not quite vertical.. will need to confirm with the car on the ground though.
Found some time between work and renovating my kitchen to get the trans out. Pretty damn simple compared to a Subaru haha.. a lot less stuff attached!
Unfortunately, I didn't find anything crazy bad with the clutch (other than being some random ebay looking thing) that would really cause my 5th gear shifts to be grindy as hell. The throwout always made some noise, but it doesn't seem locked up or super trashed. Clutch is obviously worn, but nothing weirdly bad.
Current plans are to wait for the lovely 54mm tools to come in, and wait for the rest of the parts.
Currently looking at a Ogura Racing Light 250 HP clutch and flywheel. Coming in at 25lbs with the counterweight seems pretty great. This clutch cover/disk weighed in at 15.5lbs so it should be a nice upgrade.
Still considering some other clutch/flywheel options.. but it seems like the LWFWs and Exedy replacement clutches are going to cost just as much (if not more) than some of the racing/higher end clutch and flywheel kits.
Will probably need to stiffen up the clutch pedal as well... where's that welder... lol
Also wouldn't mind a nicer (read: shorter) shifter, but all the aftermarket stuff all looks like trash. Damn shame the CAE is only for a 5 speed :\
pretty sure the NB Miata, 6-speed shifter is the same fitment as the S1. Other than some RX8 specific differences they’re essentially the same trans as far as I know
spent some money on questionable things before, but never $1000 on a shifter though; lol
the thing is, tried some others in the RX8 S1 and always went back to the OE shifter with a Speedsource stainless steel bushing insert to replace the factory polymer bushing.
unless your OE shifter and/or cup bushing are worn, that’s likely not the actual problem ime
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Yeah, I’ve never had much luck with any aftermarket shifters making anything objectively nicer/better. Most of the time id just be installing someone else’s garbage aftermarket shifter and it just never would fit right and then never felt like it made better positive shifting experience.
Will look into those bushings. That may be the ticket for what I’d like more from the shifter.
I'm no an expert but the AFE short shifter felt super nice to me. Never had issue with it and ran at Hallett in Oklahoma about 10 times. High speed touring, not competition. When I drove my buddies rx8 who had OEM rx8 shifter, it felt more rubbery or soft.
Last edited by Warrior777; 01-22-2021 at 09:44 AM.
for competition purposes it really doesn’t need a shorter throw because that increases the engagement force in addition to already being fairly short from the factory, but that was just my feeling about it. Also couldn’t find a metal bushing to work with it either because the Speedsource bushing for the OE shifter doesn’t work with it (blocked it from pressing down far enough to engage Reverse gear). That’s because the lower extension that engages the shift rod block is longer on the AFE.
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Sort of just wanted this because it looked good and I got a killer deal on it. Yay adding weight to the rear!
Grabbed a bar of 1/8th in aluminum to make some brackets, cut the bumper and even used the 3M tape. Added some zipties for good measure and it's on. Had to cut a hole for the tow hook, and someone will probably complain about cutting holes in nice OEM piece but.. added value IMO.
never installed one so maybe I lack understanding with this question; rather than add weight, why not fully cut off what’s underneath it?
always wished for S1 exhaust shrouds that eliminate the section across the bottom so that it’s open underneath like that. Had to get an S2 bumper cover to have it per the class update/backdate rules though. Same for the R3 side skirts.
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That's a good point.. i guess I could have been more aggressive cutting it out now that you mention it. May have to go a bit crazier on it before the exhaust goes back in. It's fiberglass like material, so definitely lighter than the bumper plastics.. but probably only talking ounces at this point.
Waiting for a counterweight to come in and I was getting antsy to do SOMETHING in the garage.
Threw this guy in the box just to give it a shot per some recommendations. Let's see if it helps at all. The OE bushing didn't look too worn out, so I'm not expecting much except more heat and vibration transfer to the shifter.
Bonus tube front 240sx content that was happening in parallel since this is boring as hell.
On my quest to do a lightweight flywheel and new clutch I came across the Ogura HP kit and every box seemed to be ticked. Lighter weight, cost effective, and a good feel that would hold the (lack of) torque needed. Seemed like a no brainer, so I bought the clutch and in she went.
Trans removal was pretty standard. Only busted the top trans brace bolt holder thing. Easy replacement part and am surprised that's all that broke.
Old clutch. Looks like an ebay special, though nothing looked terribly wrong to the point where it would cause a lack of clutch disengagement which would have made my 4th gear hard to get into. I suspect this transmission will be coming back out soon now for a sychro replacement.. but.. we will see.
Used the Racing Beat tools to remove the old flywheel nut and again.. nothing looks terrible awful with the disc itself. Definitely time for a replacement, but nothing terrible bad. Throwout was the same situation.
Along with the new clutch came the standard new Koyo throwout, OEM pilot bearing and seal, and OEM auto counterweight. I used the part numbers from the Mazdaspeed flywheel install guide, though chose not to use the washers listed in the kit since they didn't look to be compatible with the Ogura flywheel. While I was in there, I also replaced the rear main seal with an OEM unit since the old one was leaking juuuuust a tad.
Pretty damn happy with the weight of all the new clutch/flywheel components. Dropping 7lbs from the stock stuff seemed to be about the right ticket.
Install was pretty damn simple. I ended up grabbing a 3:1 torque multipler and modifying the Racing Beat bracing tool to hold it all. set the torque wrench to spec divided by 3 and click click she should be good. Also made sure to add a bit of RTV to the last few threads of the nut per OE manual.
With everything properly bolted up and torqued to spec, and using my patented clutch alignment tool of squint and screwdriver I tossed the trans back in. The trans install was honestly a huge pain in the ***. The tolerance on the splines of the clutch were damn tight, and obviously without it perfectly aligned it was a real bear to get in position properly. I may or may not have blown out the new pilot bearing seal trying to force it on and had to pull it all apart and buy a new one -_-
Either way she is in, and filled back up with some Motul Gear 300 fluid and I am waiting on some exhaust parts to get it on the ground and drive. Finally broke the two remaining studs on the OEM gutted midpipe, so I guess it's finally time to just get a proper aftermarket one. I bought an Agency Power double resonated one this morning.
Initial reactions:
Clutch feels PERFECT. Just tight enough to feel great without being over bearing. Feels snappy and ready to go racing. For an unsprung disc it's really nice. Will see what engagement is like on the ground, I expect to have to adjust the pedal a bit. Car seems to rev a bit more responsively, but will be able to give my opinion once I drive. Not too sure if I'll need to change any idle/fuel resume settings with this lighter flywheel, didn't really see much of anything on the internet of people doing anything, but can change when if needed.
I am more worried now about the clutch pedal breaking, as they seem to do, but I'll buy a used one and just weld it up once the time comes. Some of the aftermarket bracing kits seem WAAAY overpriced if you have the means to DIY.
10-11-2020, 09:28 AM
